CHAPTER IV.
----"All with you; except three On duty, and our leader Israel, Who is expected momently."
MARINO FALIERO.
As his fleet was safely anchored, and that too, in beautiful order, inspite of the fog, Sir Gervaise Oakes showed a disposition to pursue whatare termed ulterior views.
"This has been a fine sight--certainly a very fine sight; such as an oldseaman loves; but there must be an end to it," he said. "You will excuseme, Sir Wycherly, but the movements of a fleet always have interest inmy eyes, and it is seldom that I get such a bird's-eye view of those ofmy own; no wonder it has made me a somewhat unreflecting intruder."
"Make no apologies, Sir Gervaise, I beg of you; for none are needed, onany account. Though this head-land does belong to the Wychecombeproperty, it is fairly leased to the crown, and none have a better rightto occupy it than His Majesty's servants. The Hall is a little moreprivate, it is true, but even that has no door that will close upon ourgallant naval defenders. It is but a short walk, and nothing will makeme happier than to show you the way to my poor dwelling, and to see youas much at home under its roof, as you could be in the cabin of thePlantagenet."
"If any thing could make me as much at home in a house as in a ship, itwould be so hearty a welcome; and I intend to accept your hospitality inthe very spirit in which it is offered. Atwood and I have landed to sendoff some important despatches to the First Lord, and we will thank youfor putting us in the way of doing it, in the safest and mostexpeditious manner. Curiosity and surprise have already occasioned theloss of half an hour; while a soldier, or a sailor, should never losehalf a minute."
"Is a courier who knows the country well, needed, Sir Gervaise?" thelieutenant demanded, modestly, though with an interest that showed hewas influenced only by zeal for the service.
The admiral looked at him, intently, for a moment, and seemed pleasedwith the hint implied in the question.
"Can you ride?" asked Sir Gervaise, smiling. "I could have broughthalf-a-dozen youngsters ashore with me; but, besides the doubts aboutgetting a horse--a chaise I take it is out of the question here--I wasafraid the lads might disgrace themselves on horseback."
"This must be said in pleasantry, Sir Gervaise," returned Wychecombe;"he would be a strange Virginian at least, who does not know how toride!"
"And a strange Englishman, too, Bluewater would say; and yet I never seethe fellow straddle a horse that I do not wish it were astudding-sail-boom run out to leeward! We sailors _fancy_ we ride, Mr.Wychecombe, but it is some such fancy as a marine has for thefore-topmast-cross-trees. Can a horse be had, to go as far as thenearest post-office that sends off a daily mail?"
"That can it, Sir Gervaise," put in Sir Wycherly. "Here is Dick mountedon as good a hunter as is to be found in England; and I'll answer for myyoung namesake's willingness to put the animal's mettle to the proof.Our little mail has just left Wychecombe for the next twenty-four hours,but by pushing the beast, there will be time to reach the high road inseason for the great London mail, which passes the nearest market-townat noon. It is but a gallop of ten miles and back, and that I'll answerfor Mr. Wychecombe's ability to do, and to join us at dinner by four."
Young Wychecombe expressing his readiness to perform all this, and evenmore at need, the arrangement was soon made. Dick was dismounted, thelieutenant got his despatches and his instructions, took his leave, andhad galloped out of sight, in the next five minutes. The admiral thendeclared himself at liberty for the day, accepting the invitation of SirWycherly to breakfast and dine at the Hall, in the same spirit offrankness as that in which it had been given. Sir Wycherly was sospirited as to refuse the aid of his pony, but insisted on walkingthrough the village and park to his dwelling, though the distance wasmore than a mile. Just as they were quitting the signal-station, the oldman took the admiral aside, and in an earnest, but respectful manner,disburthened his mind to the following effect.
"Sir Gervaise," he said, "I am no sailor, as you know, and least of alldo I bear His Majesty's commission in the navy, though I am in thecounty commission as a justice of the peace; so, if I make any littlemistake you will have the goodness to overlook it, for I know that theetiquette of the quarter-deck is a very serious matter, and is not to betrifled with;--but here is Dutton, as good a fellow in his way aslives--his father was a sort of a gentleman too, having been theattorney of the neighbourhood, and the old man was accustomed to dinewith me forty years ago--"
"I believe I understand you, Sir Wycherly," interrupted the admiral;"and I thank you for the attention you wish to pay my prejudices; but,you are master of Wychecombe, and I should feel myself a troublesomeintruder, indeed, did you not ask whom you please to dine at your owntable."
"That's not quite it, Sir Gervaise, though you have not gone far wide ofthe mark. Dutton is only a master, you know; and it seems that a masteron board ship is a very different thing from a master on shore; soDutton, himself, has often told me."
"Ay, Dutton is right enough as regards a king's ship, though the twooffices are pretty much the same, when other craft are alluded to. But,my dear Sir Wycherly, an admiral is not disgraced by keeping companywith a boatswain, if the latter is an honest man. It is true we have ourcustoms, and what we call our quarter-deck and forward officers; whichis court end and city, on board ship; but a master belongs to the first,and the master of the Plantagenet, Sandy McYarn, dines with me once amonth, as regularly as he enters a new word at the top of his log-book.I beg, therefore, you will extend your hospitality to whom youplease--or--" the admiral hesitated, as he cast a good-natured glance atthe master, who stood still uncovered, waiting for his superior to moveaway; "or, perhaps, Sir Wycherly, you would permit _me_ to ask a friendto make one of our party."
"That's just it, Sir Gervaise," returned the kind-hearted baronet; "andDutton will be one of the happiest fellows in Devonshire. I wish wecould have Mrs. Dutton and Milly, and then the table would look what mypoor brother James--St. James I used to call him--what the Rev. JamesWychecombe was accustomed to term, mathematical. He said a table shouldhave all its sides and angles duly filled. James was a most agreeablecompanion, Sir Gervaise, and, in divinity, he would not have turned hisback on one of the apostles, I do verily believe!"
The admiral bowed, and turning to the master, he invited him to be ofthe party at the Hall, in the manner which one long accustomed to renderhis civilities agreeable by a sort of professional off-handed way, wellknew how to assume.
"Sir Wycherly has insisted that I shall consider his table as set in myown cabin," he continued; "and I know of no better manner of proving mygratitude, than by taking him at his word, and filling it with gueststhat will be agreeable to us both. I believe there is a Mrs. Dutton, anda Miss--a--a--a--"
"Milly," put in the baronet, eagerly; "Miss Mildred Dutton--the daughterof our good friend Dutton, here, and a young lady who would do credit tothe gayest drawing-room in London."
"You perceive, sir, that our kind host anticipates the wishes of an oldbachelor, as it might be by instinct, and desires the company of theladies, also. Miss Mildred will, at least, have two young men to dohomage to her beauty, and _three_ old ones to sigh in the distance--hey!Atwood?"
"Mildred, as Sir Wycherly knows, sir, has been a little disturbed thismorning," returned Dutton, putting on his best manner for the occasion;"but, I feel no doubt, will be too grateful for this honour, not toexert herself to make a suitable return. As for my wife, gentlemen--"
"And what is to prevent Mrs. Dutton from being one of the party,"interrupted Sir Wycherly, as he observed the husband to hesitate; "shesometimes favours me with her company."
"I rather think she will to-day, Sir Wycherly, if Mildred is well enoughto go; the good woman seldom lets her daughter stray far from herapron-strings. She keeps her, as I tell her, within the sweep of her ownhawse, Sir Gervaise."
"So much the wiser she, Master Dutton," returned the admiral, pointedly."The best pilot for a young woman is a good mother;
and now you have afleet in your roadstead, I need not tell a seaman of your experiencethat you are on pilot-ground;--hey! Atwood?"
Here the parties separated, Dutton remaining uncovered until hissuperior had turned the corner of his little cottage, and was fairly outof sight. Then the master entered his dwelling to prepare his wife anddaughter for the honours they had in perspective. Before he executedthis duty, however, the unfortunate man opened what he called alocker--what a housewife would term a cupboard--and fortified his nerveswith a strong draught of pure Nantes; a liquor that no hostilities,custom-house duties, or national antipathies, has ever been able tobring into general disrepute in the British Islands. In the mean timethe party of the two baronets pursued its way towards the Hall.
The village, or hamlet of Wychecombe, lay about half-way between thestation and the residence of the lord of the manor. It was anexceedingly rural and retired collection of mean houses, possessingneither physician, apothecary, nor attorney, to give it importance. Asmall inn, two or three shops of the humblest kind, and some twentycottages of labourers and mechanics, composed the place, which, at thatearly day, had not even a chapel, or a conventicle; dissent not havingmade much progress then in England. The parish church, one of the oldedifices of the time of the Henrys, stood quite alone, in a field, morethan a mile from the place; and the vicarage, a respectable abode, wasjust on the edge of the park, fully half a mile more distant. In short,Wychecombe was one of those places which was so far on the decline, thatfew or no traces of any little importance it may have once possessed,were any longer to be discovered; and it had sunk entirely into a hamletthat owed its allowed claims to be marked on the maps, and to be notedin the gazetteers, altogether to its antiquity, and the name it hadgiven to one of the oldest knightly families in England.
No wonder then, that the arrival of a fleet under the head, produced agreat excitement in the little village. The anchorage was excellent, sofar as the bottom was concerned, but it could scarcely be called aroadstead in any other point of view, since there was shelter against nowind but that which blew directly off shore, which happened to be a windthat did not prevail in that part of the island. Occasionally, a smallcruiser would come-to, in the offing, and a few frigates had lain atsingle anchors in the roads, for a tide or so, in waiting for a changeof weather; but this was the first fleet that had been known to moorunder the cliffs within the memory of man. The fog had prevented thehonest villagers from ascertaining the unexpected honour that had beendone them, until the reports of the two guns reached their ears, whenthe important intelligence spread with due rapidity over the entireadjacent country. Although Wychecombe did not lie in actual view of thesea, by the time the party of Sir Wycherly entered the hamlet, itslittle street was already crowded with visiters from the fleet; everyvessel having sent at least one boat ashore, and many of them some threeor four. Captain's and gun-room stewards, midshipmen's foragers,loblolly boys, and other similar harpies, were out in scores; for thiswas a part of the world in which bum-boats were unknown; and if themountain would not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must fain go to themountain. Half an hour had sufficed to exhaust all the unsophisticatedsimplicity of the hamlet; and milk, eggs, fresh butter, soft-tommy,vegetables, and such fruits as were ripe, had already risen quite onehundred per cent. in the market.
Sir Gervaise had called his force the southern squadron, from thecircumstance of its having been cruising in the Bay of Biscay, for thelast six months. This was a wild winter-station, the danger from theelements greatly surpassing any that could well be anticipated from theenemy. The duty notwithstanding had been well and closely performed;several West India, and one valuable East India convoy having beeneffectually protected, as well as a few straggling frigates of the enemypicked up; but the service had been excessively laborious to all engagedin it, and replete with privations. Most of those who now landed, hadnot trod terra firma for half a year, and it was not wonderful that allthe officers whose duties did not confine them to the vessels, gladlyseized the occasion to feast their senses with the verdure and odours oftheir native island. Quite a hundred guests of this character were alsopouring into the street of Wychecombe, or spreading themselves among thesurrounding farm-houses; flirting with the awkward and blushing girls,and keeping an eye at the same time to the main chance of themess-table.
"Our boys have already found out your village, Sir Wycherly, in spite ofthe fog," the vice-admiral remarked, good-humouredly, as he cast hiseyes around at the movement of the street; "and the locusts of Egyptwill not come nearer to breeding a famine. One would think there was agreat dinner _in petto_, in every cabin of the fleet, by the number ofthe captain's stewards that are ashore, hey! Atwood? I have seen nine ofthe harpies, myself, and the other seven can't be far off."
"Here is Galleygo, Sir Gervaise," returned the secretary, smiling;"though _he_ can scarcely be called a captain's steward, having thehonour to serve a vice-admiral and a commander-in-chief."
"Ay, but _we_ feed the whole fleet at times, and have some excuse forbeing a little exacting--harkee, Galleygo--get a horse-cart, and pushoff at once, four or five miles further into the country; you might aswell expect to find real pearls in fishes' eyes, as hope to pick up anything nice among so many gun-room and cock-pit boys. I dine ashoreto-day, but Captain Greenly is fond of mutton-chops, you'll remember."
This was said kindly, and in the manner of a man accustomed to treat hisdomestics with the familiarity of humble friends. Galleygo was asunpromising a looking butler as any gentleman ashore would be at alllikely to tolerate; but he had been with his present master, and in hispresent capacity, ever since the latter had commanded a sloop of war.All his youth had been passed as a top-man, and he was really a primeseaman; but accident having temporarily placed him in his presentstation, Captain Oakes was so much pleased with his attention to hisduty, and particularly with his order, that he ever afterwards retainedhim in his cabin, notwithstanding the strong desire the honest fellowhimself had felt to remain aloft. Time and familiarity, at lengthreconciled the steward to his station, though he did not formally acceptit, until a clear agreement had been made that he was not to beconsidered an idler on any occasion that called for the services of thebest men. In this manner David, for such was his Christian name, hadbecome a sort of nondescript on board of a man-of-war; being foremost inall the cuttings out, a captain of a gun, and was frequently seen on ayard in moments of difficulty, just to keep his hand in, as he expressedit, while he descended to the duties of the cabin in peaceable times andgood weather. Near thirty years had he thus been half-steward,half-seaman when afloat, while on land he was rather a counsellor andminister of the closet, than a servant; for out of a ship he was utterlyuseless, though he never left his master for a week at a time, ashore orafloat. The name of Galleygo was a _sobriquet_ conferred by his brothertop-men, but had been so generally used, that for the last twenty yearsmost of his shipmates believed it to be his patronymic. When thiscompound of cabin and forecastle received the order just related, hetouched the lock of hair on his forehead, a ceremony he always usedbefore he spoke to Sir Gervaise, the hat being removed at some three orfour yards' distance, and made his customary answer of--
"Ay-ay-sir--your honour has been a young gentleman yourself, and knowswhat a young gentleman's stomach gets to be, a'ter a six months' fast inthe Bay of Biscay; and a young gentleman's _boy's_ stomach, too. Ialways thinks there's but a small chance for us, sir, when I sees six oreight of them light cruisers in my neighbourhood. They're som'mat likethe sloops and cutters of a fleet, which picks up all the prizes."
"Quite true, Master Galleygo; but if the light cruisers get the prizes,you should recollect that the admiral always has his share of theprize-money."
"Yes, sir, I knows we has our share, but that's accordin' to law, andbecause the commanders of the light craft can't help it. Let 'em onceget the law on their side, and not a ha'pence would bless our pockets!No, sir, what we gets, we gets by the law; and as there is no law tofetch up young gentlemen or their
boys, that pays as they goes, we nevergets any thing they or their boys puts hands on."
"I dare say you are right, David, as you always are. It wouldn't be abad thing to have an Act of Parliament to give an admiral his twentiethin the reefers' foragings. The old fellows would sometimes get back someof their own poultry and fruit in that way, hey! Atwood?"
The secretary smiled his assent, and then Sir Gervaise apologized to hishost, repeated the order to the steward, and the party proceeded.
"This fellow of mine, Sir Wycherly, is no respecter of persons, beyondthe etiquette of a man-of-war," the admiral continued, by way of furtherexcuse. "I believe His Majesty himself would be favoured with an essayon some part of the economy of the cabin, were Galleygo to get anopportunity of speaking his mind to him. Nor is the fool without hisexpectations of some day enjoying this privilege; for the last lime Iwent to court, I found honest David rigged, from stem to stern, in afull suit of claret and steel, under the idea that he was 'to sail incompany with me,' as he called it, 'with or without signal!'"
"There was nothing surprising in that, Sir Gervaise," observed thesecretary. "Galleygo has sailed in company with you so long, and to somany strange lands; has been through so many dangers at your side, andhas got so completely to consider himself as part of the family, that itwas the most natural thing in the world he should expect to go to courtwith you."
"True enough. The fellow would face the devil, at my side, and I don'tsee why he should hesitate to face the king. I sometimes call him LadyOakes, Sir Wycherly, for he appears to think he has a right of dower, orto some other lawyer-like claim on my estate; and as for the fleet, healways speaks of _that_, as if we commanded it in common. I wonder howBluewater tolerates the blackguard; for he never scruples to allude tohim as under _our_ orders! If any thing should befal me, Dick and Davidwould have a civil war for the succession, hey! Atwood?"
"I think military subordination would bring Galleygo to his senses, SirGervaise, should such an unfortunate accident occur--which Heaven avertfor many years to come! There is Admiral Bluewater coming up the street,at this very moment, sir."
At this sudden announcement, the whole party turned to look in thedirection intimated by the secretary. It was by this time at one end ofthe short street, and all saw a man just entering the other, who, in hiswalk, air, attire, and manner, formed a striking contrast to the active,merry, bustling, youthful young sailors who thronged the hamlet. Inperson, Admiral Bluewater was exceedingly tall and exceedingly thin.Like most seamen who have that physical formation, he stooped; acircumstance that gave his years a greater apparent command over hisframe, than they possessed in reality. While this bend in his figuredeprived it, in a great measure, of the sturdy martial air that hissuperior presented to the observer, it lent to his carriage a quiet anddignity that it might otherwise have wanted. Certainly, were thisofficer attired like an ordinary civilian, no one would have taken himfor one of England's bravest and most efficient sea-captains; he wouldhave passed rather as some thoughtful, well-educated, and refinedgentleman, of retired habits, diffident of himself, and a stranger toambition. He wore an undress rear-admiral's uniform, as a matter ofcourse; but he wore it carelessly, as if from a sense of duty only; orconscious that no arrangement could give him a military air. Still allabout his person was faultlessly neat, and perfectly respectable. In aword, no one but a man accustomed to the sea, were it not for hisuniform, would suspect the rear-admiral of being a sailor; and even theseaman himself might be often puzzled to detect any other signs of theprofession about him, than were to be found in a face, which, fair,gentlemanly, handsome, and even courtly as it was, in expression andoutline, wore the tint that exposure invariably stamps on the mariner'scountenance. Here, however, his unseaman-like character ceased. AdmiralOakes had often declared that "Dick Bluewater knew more about a shipthan any man in England;" and as for a fleet, his mode of man[oe]uvringone had got to be standard in the service.
As soon as Sir Gervaise recognised his friend, he expressed a wish towait for him, which was courteously converted by Sir Wycherly into aproposition to return and meet him. So abstracted was Admiral Bluewater,however, that he did not see the party that was approaching him, untilhe was fairly accosted by Sir Gervaise, who led the advance by a fewyards.
"Good-day to you, Bluewater," commenced the latter, in his familiar,off-hand way; "I'm glad you have torn yourself away from your ship;though I must say the manner in which you came-to, in that fog, was morelike instinct, than any thing human! I determined to tell you as much,the moment we met; for I don't think there is a ship, half her lengthout of mathematical order, notwithstanding the tide runs, here, like arace-horse."
"That is owing to your captains, Sir Gervaise," returned the other,observing the respect of manner, that the inferior never loses with hissuperior, on service, and in a navy; let their relative rank andintimacy be what they may on all other occasions; "good captains makehandy ships. Our gentlemen have now been together so long, that theyunderstand each other's movements; and every vessel in the fleet has hercharacter as well as her commander!"
"Very true, Admiral Bluewater, and yet there is not another officer inHis Majesty's service, that could have brought a fleet to anchor, in somuch order, and in such a fog; and I ask your leave, sir, mostparticularly to thank you for the lesson you have given, not only to thecaptains, but to the commander-in-chief. I presume I may admire thatwhich I cannot exactly imitate."
The rear-admiral merely smiled and touched his hat in acknowledgment ofthe compliment, but he made no direct answer in words. By this time SirWycherly and the others had approached, and the customary introductionstook place. Sir Wycherly now pressed his new acquaintance to join hisguests, with so much heartiness, that there was no such thing asrefusing.
"Since you and Sir Gervaise both insist on it so earnestly, SirWycherly," returned the rear-admiral, "I must consent; but as it iscontrary to our practice, when on foreign service--and I call thisroadstead a foreign station, as to any thing we know about it--as it iscontrary to our practice for both flag-officers to sleep out of thefleet, I shall claim the privilege to be allowed to go off to my shipbefore midnight. I think the weather looks settled, Sir Gervaise, and wemay trust that many hours, without apprehension."
"Pooh--pooh--Bluewater, you are always fancying the ships in a gale, andclawing off a lee-shore. Put your heart at rest, and let us go and takea comfortable dinner with Sir Wycherly, who has a London paper, I dareto say, that may let us into some of the secrets of state. Are there anytidings from our people in Flanders?"
"Things remain pretty much as they have been," returned Sir Wycherly,"since that last terrible affair, in which the Duke got the better ofthe French at--I never can remember an outlandish name; but it soundssomething like a Christian baptism. If my poor brother, St. James, wereliving, now, he could tell us all about it."
"Christian baptism! That's an odd allusion for a field of battle. Thearmies can't have got to Jerusalem; hey! Atwood?"
"I rather think, Sir Gervaise," the secretary coolly remarked, "that SirWycherly Wychecombe refers to the battle that took place last spring--itwas fought at Font-something; and a font certainly has something to dowith Christian baptism."
"That's it--that's it," cried Sir Wycherly, with some eagerness;"Fontenoi was the name of the place, where the Duke would have carriedall before him, and brought Marshal Saxe, and all his frog-eatersprisoners to England, had our Dutch and German allies behaved betterthan they did. So it is with poor old England, gentlemen; whatever _she_gains, her allies always _lose_ for her--the Germans, or the colonists,are constantly getting us into trouble!"
Both Sir Gervaise and his friend were practical men, and well knew thatthey never fought the Dutch or the French, without meeting withsomething that was pretty nearly their match. They had no faith ingeneral national superiority. The courts-martial that so often succeededgeneral actions, had taught them that there were all degrees of spirit,as well as all degrees of a want of spirit; and they knew
too much, tobe the dupes of flourishes of the pen, or of vapid declamation atdinner-speeches, and in the House of Commons. Men, well led andcommanded, they had ascertained by experience, were worth twice as muchas the same men when ill led and ill commanded; and they were not to betold that the moral tone of an army or a fleet, from which all itssuccess was derived, depended more on the conventional feeling that hadbeen got up through moral agencies, than on birth-place, origin, orcolour. Each glanced his eye significantly at the other, and a sarcasticsmile passed over the face of Sir Gervaise, though his friend maintainedhis customary appearance of gravity.
"I believe le Grand Monarque and Marshal Saxe give a different accountof that matter, Sir Wycherly," drily observed the former; "and it may bewell to remember that there are two sides to every story. Whatever maybe said of Dettingen, I fancy history will set down Fontenoi as anything but a feather in His Royal Highness' cap."
"You surely do not consider it possible for the French arms to overthrowa British army, Sir Gervaise Oakes!" exclaimed the simple-mindedprovincial--for such was Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, though he had sat inparliament, had four thousand a year, and was one of the oldest familiesin England--"It sounds like treason to admit the possibility of such athing."
"God bless us, my dear sir, I am as far from supposing any such thing,as the Duke of Cumberland himself; who, by the way, has as much Englishblood in his veins, as the Baltic may have of the water of theMediterranean--hey! Atwood? By the way, Sir Wycherly, I must ask alittle tenderness of you in behalf of my friend the secretary, here, whohas a national weakness in favour of the Pretender, and all of the clanStuart."
"I hope not--I sincerely hope not, Sir Gervaise!" exclaimed SirWycherly, with a warmth that was not entirely free from alarm; his ownloyalty to the new house being altogether without reproach. "Mr. Atwoodhas the air of a gentleman of too good principles not to see on whichside real religious and political liberty lie. I am sure you are pleasedto be jocular, Sir Gervaise; the very circumstance that he is in yourcompany is a pledge of his loyalty."
"Well, well, Sir Wycherly, I would not give you a false idea of myfriend Atwood, if possible; and so I may as well confess, that, whilehis Scotch blood inclines him to toryism, his English reason makes him awhig. If Charles Stuart never gets the throne until Stephen Atwood helpshim to a seat on it, he may take leave of ambition for ever."
"I thought as much, Sir Gervaise--I thought _your_ secretary could neverlean to the doctrine of 'passive obedience and non-resistance.' That's aprinciple which would hardly suit sailors, Admiral Bluewater."
Admiral Bluewater's line, full, blue eye, lighted with an expressionapproaching irony; but he made no other answer than a slight inclinationof the head. In point of fact, _he_ was a Jacobite: though no one wasacquainted with the circumstance but his immediate commanding officer.As a seaman, he was called on only to serve his country; and, as oftenhappens to military men, he was willing to do this under any superiorwhom circumstances might place over his head, let his private sentimentsbe what they might. During the civil war of 1715, he was too young inyears, and too low in rank to render his opinions of much importance;and, kept on foreign stations, his services could only affect thegeneral interests of the nation, without producing any influence on thecontest at home. Since that period, nothing had occurred to require one,whose duty kept him on the ocean, to come to a very positive decisionbetween the two masters that claimed his allegiance. Sir Gervaise hadalways been able to persuade him that he was sustaining the honour andinterests of his country, and that ought to be sufficient to a patriot,let who would rule. Notwithstanding this wide difference in politicalfeeling between the two admirals--Sir Gervaise being as decided a whig,as his friend was a tory--their personal harmony had been without ashade. As to confidence, the superior knew the inferior so well, that hebelieved the surest way to prevent his taking sides openly with theJacobites, or of doing them secret service, was to put it in his powerto commit a great breach of trust. So long as faith were put in hisintegrity, Sir Gervaise felt certain his friend Bluewater might berelied on; and he also knew that, should the moment ever come when theother really intended to abandon the service of the house of Hanover, hewould frankly throw up his employments, and join the hostile standard,without profiting, in any manner, by the trusts he had previouslyenjoyed. It is also necessary that the reader should understand thatAdmiral Bluewater had never communicated his political opinions to anyperson but his friend; the Pretender and his counsellors being asignorant of them, as George II. and his ministers. The only practicaleffect, therefore, that they had ever produced was to induce him todecline separate commands, several of which had been offered to him;one, quite equal to that enjoyed by Sir Gervaise Oakes, himself.
"No," the latter answered to Sir Wycherly's remark; though the grave,thoughtful expression of his face, showed how little his feelings chimedin, at the moment, with the ironical language of his tongue. "No--SirWycherly, a man-of-war's man, in particular, has not the slightest ideaof 'passive obedience and non-resistance,'--that is a doctrine which isintelligible only to papists and tories. Bluewater is in a brown study;thinking no doubt of the manner in which he intends to lead down onMonsieur de Gravelin, should we ever have the luck to meet thatgentleman again; so we will, if it's agreeable to all parties, changethe subject."
"With all my heart, Sir Gervaise," answered the baronet, cordially;"and, after all, there is little use in discussing the affair of thePretender any longer, for he appears to be quite out of men's minds,since that last failure of King Louis XV."
"Yes, Norris rather crushed the young viper in its shell, and we mayconsider the thing at an end."
"So my late brother, Baron Wychecombe, always treated it, Sir Gervaise.He once assured me that the twelve judges were clearly against theclaim, and that the Stuarts had nothing to expect from _them_."
"Did he tell you, sir, on what ground these learned gentlemen had cometo this decision?" quietly asked Admiral Bluewater.
"He did, indeed; for he knew my strong desire to make out a good caseagainst the tories so well, that he laid all the law before me. I am abad hand, however, to repeat even what I hear; though my poor brother,the late Rev. James Wychecombe--St. James as I used to call him--couldgo over a discourse half an hour long, and not miss a word. Thomas andJames appear to have run away with the memories of the rest of thefamily. Nevertheless, I recollect it all depended on an act ofParliament, which is supreme; and the house of Hanover reigning by anact of Parliament, no court could set aside the claim."
"Very clearly explained, sir," continued Bluewater; "and you will permitme to say that there was no necessity for an apology on account of thememory. Your brother, however, might not have exactly explained what anact of Parliament is. King, Lords, and Commons, are all necessary to anact of Parliament."
"Certainly--we all know that, my dear admiral; we poor fellows ashorehere, as well as you mariners at sea. The Hanoverian succession had allthree to authorize it."
"Had it a king?"
"A king! Out of dispute--or what we bachelors ought to consider as muchbetter, it had a _queen_. Queen Anne approved of the act, and that madeit an act of Parliament. I assure you, I learned a good deal of law inthe Baron's visits to Wychecombe; and in the pleasant hours we used tochat together in his chambers!"
"And who signed the act of Parliament that made Anne a queen? or did sheascend the throne by regular succession? Both Mary and Anne weresovereigns by acts of Parliament, and we must look back until we get theapproval of a prince who took the crown by legal descent."
"Come--come, Bluewater," put in Sir Gervaise, gravely; "we may persuadeSir Wycherly, in this manner, that he has a couple of furious Jacobitesin company. The Stuarts were dethroned by a revolution, which is a lawof nature, and enacted by God, and which of course overshadows all otherlaws when it gets into the ascendant, as it clearly has done in thiscase. I take it, Sir Wycherly, these are your park-gates, and thatyonder is the Hall."
This remark changed the d
iscourse, and the whole party proceeded towardsthe house, discussing the beauty of its position, its history, and itsadvantages, until they reached its door.